With Christmas just around the corner, parents will be tallying up just how much it’s going to cost to fulfil their children’s Christmas lists. But how has this changed over time?

We’ve looked back at the most popular Christmas presents of every year from 1970 to 2018, to see how the cost of Christmas has changed. Explore the data below and see what the most popular Christmas gifts were when you were born, and how much they cost. We’ve also used historic inflation rates to calculate the equivalent cost in today’s money.

THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF CHRISTMAS SPENDING

CHRISTMAS LISTS THROUGH THE AGES

Key: Cost then | Cost now

HOW MUCH DOES CHRISTMAS REALLY COST PARENTS?

We’ve looked at the average monthly disposable income in the UK, and calculated what percentage of that parents would have to spend to get the five must-have toys each year. In 1970, parents only had to spend 4% of their household disposable income to fulfil their children’s wish lists, compared to a whopping 42% in 2018!

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This content was created using information from the Toy Retailers Association, Retromash, The People History and Wikipedia. Historic prices were adjusted for inflation using CPI Inflation Calculator. Figures and calculations accurate as of December 2018.